Relocating from challenging environmental settings has been an important survival strategy
throughout human history (McLeman 2014). Today, in the context of a changing global cli-
mate, the need for improved understanding of migration’s environmental drivers is particularly
salient. Indeed, the topic is vital for policy (Black et al. 2011) and also holds substantial interest
among the public.
Research on the environmental dimensions of human migration has made important strides
in recent years. Yet contributions from a sociological perspective have been limited. Human
geographers, anthropologists, and scholars focused on livelihood vulnerability and adaptation
have predominantly led the charge to better understand natural environment push factors as they
relate to migration decision making and migration patterns. Yet evidence has been “varied and
patchy,” with wide-ranging methodologies, little theoretical development, and myriad geographic
foci (Black et al. 2011, p. S3). With a now solid and growing body of evidence from case studies, it
is time for sociologists to expand migration–environment inquiry to include issues of inequality,
perceptions, and considerations of agency vis-` -vis structure. We argue that sociology has mucha
to contribute to these areas.